sylwia kapuscinski

Iraq: Post-War Iraq

A year after the fall of Baghdad, Iraq is still in turmoil, a lawless land where residents live in fear of American soldiers, insurgents, and thieves.

The world inside Abu Ghraib prison is, in some ways, a reflection of the chaos and suffering outside its walls that Iraqis live under.

In Spring of 2004, when radical shi'ite cleric Muqtada al Sadr's militia, Mahdi army, increased their attacks against U.S. military, clashes and bombings became part of the daily life. Innocent victims were caught in the middle. And for some women, the insecurity led to an increasingly restrictive environment. Women who used to walk around in Western-style clothes now felt compelled to cover up.

The future remains uncertain.

U.S. military detains Iraqi suspects for questioning in Al-Imeel neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq.
  
Iraqi women wait behind the fence outside the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, Iraq, trying to get a possible appointment for a visit with their relatives, Thursday, May 13, 2004. The prison became the site of an extortion racket in which an Iraqi translator collected hundreds of dollars from families begging for visits with loved ones inside. After pleading with American guards for information on their locked-up relatives led nowhere, families were willing to pay anything for arranged unauthorized meetings between families and detainees.
   
In Basra, the escalating crime problem has led to the packed prison cells, such as this one holding 30 inmates, Sunday, March 21, 2004. Many residents say the local police and British troops patrolling the southern port city are ineffective, not only against religious militias, but also against street crime.
     
  
Maysam Kaleel, 22, center, laughs with friends after classes at Basra University in Basra, Iraq. Almost all female students at Basra University wear hijab or head scarf because they feel if they don't, they will get killed by Shiite Muslim religious extremists, backed by armed militias. Fundamentalists are waging a campaign of intimidation to enforce a strict Islamic code of conduct in Iraq's second largest city.
  
Iraqi policemen guard Basra Police Station. Shi’ite Muslim extremists, backed by armed militias, are waging a campaign of intimidation to enforce a strict Islamic code of conduct in Iraq’s second largest city.
  
Iraqi Police recruits train to defend themselves at Basra Police Station in Basra, Iraq. Fighters opposed to the U.S. led government are repeatedly targeting Iraqi policemen and Iraqi security forces.
     
  
Haidar, 20, belongs to Thualfiqr al Batar, a band of teens and men in 20's from Najaf, who joined forces in mid-April 2004, to oust radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al Sadr's gunmen. Thualfiqr al Batar has 250 members with a handful more joining each day.
  
U.S. soldiers stand guard around the Mt. Lebanon Hotel, in Baghdad, Iraq, that was destroyed by a car bomb. The attack took place three days before the first anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war.
  
Najiba Mahfooth, 40, right, worries about her family getting hurt by the cross-fire between insurgents and U.S. military while they are conducting house-to-house search just outside her home. When U.S. reinforcements arrived to a scene of a burning U.S. military tanker truck that came under attack in the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, on the highway leading to Fallujah the attackers fired four mortar shells.
     
  
After three hours of putting out a fire at Al-Yarmuk Electrical Supplies Warehouse, an Iraqi fireman rests in Baghdad, Iraq. Guards at Al-Yarmuk Electrical Supplies Warehouse said a rocket hit electrical cables and electrical transformers causing a fire.
  
Followers of Shi’ite cleric, Muqtada al Sadr, clean al Sadr office after it was bombed by U.S. military during the night of April 7, 2004, in Sadr City in Baghdad, on Thursday, April 8, 2004. In the Spring of 2004, U.S. military regularly bombed the office of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr, but the supporters and residents of Sadr City always rebuilt the office within one to two days.
   
Prisoners from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison rejoice after being released near Tikrit, Iraq, Tuesday, May 4, 2004. This was the first time the prisoners were released after images of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison were seen all over the world. After about a five-hour drive from Abu Ghraib Prison to Tikrit area, scores of prisoners were freed from three buses on a dead-end road. U.S. military has received international condemnation for alleged abuses and humiliation of prisoners.